Foxpro Programming Software

Cover of the FoxPro 2.6 Developer's Guide

FoxPro was a text-basedprocedurally orientedprogramming language and database management system (DBMS), and it is also an object-oriented programming language, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX. The final published release of FoxPro was 2.6. Development continued under the Visual FoxPro label, which in turn was discontinued in 2007.

Is a manufacturer of high quality products. We specialize in hunting gear and accessories and a variety of digital game calls that are proudly manufactured in the USA FOXPRO Programming Software. FoxPro was a text-based procedurally oriented programming language and database management system (DBMS), and it is also an object-oriented programming language, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX. The final published release of FoxPro was 2.6. FOXPRO Programming Software for Windows. This application is provided for users of Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 & 10) at no charge. The Sound Programming Utility is an easy-to-use application that assists you in managing the sounds in your FOXPRO game call.

FoxPro was derived from FoxBase (Fox Software, Perrysburg, Ohio), which was in turn derived from dBase III (Ashton-Tate) and dBase II. dBase II was the first commercial version of a database program written by Wayne Ratliff, called Vulcan, running on CP/M.

FoxPro is both a DBMS and a relational database management system (RDBMS), since it extensively supports multiple relationships between multiple DBF files (tables). However it lacks transactional processing.

After they acquired Fox Software in its entirety in 1992, FoxPro was sold and supported by Microsoft. At that time there was an active worldwide community of FoxPro users and programmers. FoxPro 2.6 for UNIX (FPU26) has even been successfully installed on Linux and FreeBSD using the Intel Binary Compatibility Standard (ibcs2) support library.

  • 1Version information

Version information[edit]

Operating system compatibility[edit]

Foxpro Programming Software
Extant Versions by OS
VersionFP 2.0FP 2.5FP 2.6
MS-DOSYesYesYes
Windows 3.1 to XPYesYesYes
MacintoshYesYesYes
SCO UNIXYesYesYes
Linux & FreeBSDYesYesYes[1]
Windows 2000NoNoYes

Technical aspects[edit]

FoxPro 2 included the 'Rushmore' optimizing engine, which used indices to accelerate data retrieval and updating. Rushmore technology examined every

Visual FoxPro
Developer(s)Microsoft
Final release
v9.0 SP2[1] / October 16, 2007; 11 years ago[2]
Operating systemWindows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2003[3]
PlatformIA-32[4]
Available inIDE: English, German, Spanish
Runtime: Above plus French, Chinese, Russian, Czech, Korean
TypeIntegrated development environment, programming language
License
Websitemsdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro

Visual FoxPro is a discontinued Microsoftdata-centricproceduralprogramming language that subsequently became object-oriented.

It was derived from FoxPro (originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Fox Technologies merged with Microsoft in 1992, after which the software acquired further features and the prefix 'Visual'.[6]FoxPro 2.6 worked on Mac OS, DOS, Windows, and Unix.

Visual FoxPro 3.0, the first 'Visual' version, reduced platform support to only Mac[7] and Windows, and later versions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were Windows-only. The current version of Visual FoxPro is COM-based and Microsoft has stated that they do not intend to create a Microsoft .NET version.

Version 9.0, released in December 2004 and updated in October 2007 with the SP2 patch, was the final version of the product.

  • 1History
  • 2Code samples
  • 5External links

History[edit]

Visual FoxPro originated as a member of the class of languages commonly referred to as 'xBase' languages, which have syntax based on the dBase programming language. Other members of the xBase language family include Clipper and Recital (database).

Visual FoxPro, commonly abbreviated as VFP, is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL query and data manipulation. Unlike most database management systems, Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. It can be used to write not just traditional 'fat client' applications, but also middleware and web applications.

In late 2002, it was demonstrated that Visual FoxPro can run on Linux under the Wine Windows compatibility suite. In 2003, this led to complaints by Microsoft: it was claimed that the deployment of runtime FoxPro code on non-Windows machines violates the End User License Agreement.[8]

Visual FoxPro had a rapid rise and fall in popularity as measured by the TIOBE Programming Community Index.[9] In December 2005, VFP broke into the top 20 for the first time. In June 2006 it peaked at position 12, making it (at the time) a 'B' language. As of July 2018, Visual FoxPro holds position 41 on the TIOBE index.[10]

In March 2007, Microsoft announced that there will be no VFP 10,[11] thus making VFP9 (released to manufacturing on December 17, 2004) the last commercial VFP release from Microsoft. Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 was released in October 16, 2007.[12] The support of Version 9 ended on January 13, 2015.[13]

At the time of the end of life announcement, work on the next release codenamed Sedna (named after a recently discovered dwarf planet) which was built on top of the VFP9 codebase had already begun. 'Sedna' is a set of add-ons to VFP 9.0 of xBase components to support a number of interoperability scenarios with various Microsoft technologies including SQL Server 2005, .NET Framework, Windows Vista, Office 2007, Windows Search and Team Foundation Server (TFS). Microsoft released Sedna under the Shared source license on the CodePlex site. Microsoft has clarified that the VFP core will still remain closed source. Sedna was released on January 25, 2008.[14] As of March 2008, all xBase components of the VFP 9 SP2 (including Sedna) were available for community-development on CodePlex.

In late March 2007 a grassroots campaign was started by the Spanish-speaking FoxPro community at MásFoxPro[15] ('MoreFoxPro' in English) to sign a petition to Microsoft to continue updating Visual FoxPro or release it to the community as open-source. On April 3, 2007 the movement was noted by the technical press.[16]

On April 3, 2007, Microsoft responded to the petition with this statement from Alan Griver:[16]

'We're very aware of the FoxPro community and that played a large part in what we announced on March 13th. It's never an easy decision to announce that we're not going to release another version of a product and it's one that we consider very carefully.

'We're not announcing the end of FoxPro: Obviously, FoxPro applications will continue to work. By some of our internal estimates, there are more applications running in FoxPro 2.6 than there are in VFP and FoxPro 2.6 hasn't been supported in many years. Visual FoxPro 9 will be supported by Microsoft through 2015.

'For Microsoft to continue to evolve the FoxPro base, we would need to look at creating a 64-bit development environment and that would involve an almost complete rewrite of the core product. We've also invested in creating a scalable database with SQL Server, including the freely available SQL Server Express Edition. As far as forming a partnership with a third-party is concerned, we've heard from a number of large FoxPro customers that this would make it impossible for them to continue to use FoxPro since it would no longer be from an approved vendor. We felt that putting the environment into open source on CodePlex, which balances the needs of both the community and the large customers, was the best path forward.'

Software

Version Timeline[edit]

All versions listed are for Windows.[17]

VersionRelease Date
Visual FoxPro 3.0June 1995
Visual FoxPro 5.0October 1996
Visual FoxPro 5.0aOctober 1997
Visual FoxPro 6.018 May 1998
Visual FoxPro 7.027 June 2001
Visual FoxPro 8.01 February 2003
Visual FoxPro 8.0 Service Pack 17 October 2003
Visual FoxPro 920 December 2004
Visual FoxPro 9 Service Pack 18 December 2005
Visual FoxPro 9 Service Pack 216 October 2007

Code samples[edit]

The FoxPro language contains commands quite similar to other programming languages such as Basic.

Some basic syntax samples:

Hello World examples:

Object[edit]

Output of the Hello World program.
  • VFP has an extensive library of predefined classes and visual objects which are accessed in the IDE by a Property Sheet (including Methods),[18] so code such as the above defining classes and objects are only needed for special purposes and the framework of large systems.

Data handling[edit]

The language also has extensive database manipulation and indexing commands.The 'help' index of commands in VFP 9 has several hundred commands and functions described. The examples below show how to code the creation and indexing of tables, however VFP has table and database builder screens which create the tables and indexes without making you write code.

Output of the Data handling program.

ODBC access using SQL passthrough[edit]

Applications[edit]

Free Foxpro Programming Software

Some notable applications written in Visual FoxPro include

  • PWCT : Free open source visual programming language for software development

References[edit]

  1. ^'Visual FoxPro 9.0 Updates'. Visual FoxPro Developer Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  2. ^'Download Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2.0'. Download Center. Microsoft. October 16, 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  3. ^'System Requirements'. Visual FoxPro Developer Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  4. ^'Frequently Asked Questions'. Visual FoxPro Developer Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  5. ^'A Message to the Community'. Visual FoxPro Developer Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  6. ^NY Times
  7. ^Microsoft Visual FoxPro 3.0 for Power Macintosh Now Available, July 25, 1996, news.microsoft.com
  8. ^Visual FoxPro for Linux: A Violation of the EULA?, May 13, 2003, By Ed Leafe, Linux Journal
  9. ^Tiobe Index History for FoxPro
  10. ^https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
  11. ^A Message to the Community
  12. ^Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2.0
  13. ^'Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Lifecycle'. support.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  14. ^Microsoft SEDNA download
  15. ^Mas FoxPro - Visual FoxPro Wiki
  16. ^ abDevelopers petition Microsoft to reconsider FoxPro phase out Posted by Mary Jo Foley (April 3rd, 2007) - All about Microsoft - ZDNet.com
  17. ^The History of FoxPro
  18. ^'Visual FoxPro Development Productivity Tools'. Microsoft. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

Foxpro Programming Software Download

External links[edit]

Microsoft pages[edit]

Visual Foxpro Programming Tutorial

Other pages[edit]

  • Visual FoxPro Wiki A repository of FoxPro information (written in VFP)
  • VFPx A Visual FoxPro Community effort to create open source add-ons for VFP 9.0

Foxpro Programming Software

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